A Key by Any Other Name
by Xeelia
Summary: What if Loki's plans in Avengers weren't as they appeared?
1. What Just Happened?

A Key by Any Other Name

What if Loki's plans in Avengers weren't as they appeared?

Loki inwardly chuckled as his brother was whooshed away by Ironman, stupid heroes.

Just then a green light, shimmering like a million lightning bugs, appeared. Out of the light a girl walked. She was no more than 16; with the same icy blue eyes and pale skin as Loki's Asgardian appearance. Her cheek was bruised, her lower lip split, and her hands were covered in scrapes and cuts.

Thor, Ironman, and Captain America raced to the scene just in time to see the girl jump into Loki's arms. The God of Mischief caught her and held her close, seeming to not notice the others at all.

Thor stepped toward them, gripping his hammer tightly, "Child do not fear, we will protect you. Loki put the child down!"

The girl turned her head, anger evident in her blue gaze, "I'm not your child and I don't need your protection. Go. Away."

Captain America stepped forward. "This man is a criminal; you aren't safe, please let us help you."

The girl and Loki both laughed and Loki spoke. "She is safe, and that is all that matters, come Lykill, we need to secure your safety."

With that green light danced across both figures before they disappeared.

Suddenly Ironman got a transmission from Black Widow. "I don't know what happened but a girl just appeared out of thin air and took Loki's scepter!"

Ironman relayed the information to Thor and Cap. Tony ground his teeth, "Your brother is mind controlling a child! A child with weird green powers but a child! If you think we're going to let you take him to Asgard now you are very much mistaken!"

Just then JARVIS alerted Tony that Loki was on top of the Stark Tower.

Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, Ironman, and Captain America all reached the roof, just in time to see the girl create a small green disc of light and Loki toss first the Tesseract then his scepter into it.

Loki, his arm around the girl, spoke with much less bravado than he normally did. "They're gone, if you want them they are with Thanos, good luck getting them."

Thor stepped toward the pair but stopped short when the girl pulled a glowing sword from a tiny green portal. Loki put his hand on her shoulder, "Lykill, do not, you should not dirty your pretty little hands."

It was in that moment that Thor looked from the girl to his brother and back again. "She's your child? How?"

Their matching grins were all he saw before they disappeared into a green portal.


	2. Why?

NOTE: The Buffy timeline may be a bit messed up so just to make it a bit clearer; Buffy was called at 15 and has been a slayer for almost 6 years. Extra NOTE at the end of this chapter.

Two Earth years earlier, Sunnydale, California

Dawn watched as Doc pushed Spike off the tower. She knew deep inside this was the end. As Doc sliced her she knew she was going to die.

Then Buffy appeared and knocked Doc to the ground and untied her.

Buffy the hero.

Buffy the Slayer.

Buffy her sister.

Buffy who was real.

She saw the portal opening, "Buffy…"

Somehow, maybe an echo over time, Dawn knew what Buffy was going to do, she couldn't let that happen. She ran past her sister, who was so shocked she didn't even try to stop her. Buffy could only watch and scream as Dawn launched herself into the portal.

And then there was nothing. The portal closed, sucking Dawn in as it did. Spike and Buffy both screamed, Giles stood back his face grave after killing Ben, Willow and Tara softly crying to one another, Xander holding the dead body of Anya.

Dawn felt herself fill with energy as the portal pulled her through, as if it was feeding her. She fell for what seemed a very long time before landing ON someone.

The man she'd landed on was dressed in black and green, had ice blue eyes and dark hair, and smelled like energy. Dawn felt instantly drawn to the man, much like she was drawn to her mother and, to a lesser extent, Buffy.

She felt the oddest shiver travel her body and when it stopped she realized the dress Glory had thrown on her was a lot bigger…or she was smaller. Looking up at the man she knew it was the latter.

The man picked her up and she guessed she probably looked 5 or 6. He looked at her with wonder and sniffed her long hair. "Where did you come from and why do you smell like you're mine?"

Dawn gulped but figured there was no reason any more to keep her secrets and explained her creation, her "life" with Buffy and their mother, Glory, the portal and her jump.

The man held her higher, "Your mother, Joyce, she looked like this?" His face warped and did indeed look like her mother, only younger and she told him so.

The man clutched her tightly as she began to cry. His face returned to normal as he whispered an Asgardian lullaby to her.

Eventually pulling her back a bit, "They lied; the monks. I met your mother when she was in the middle of her divorce from her husband. She and I had a weekend of physical love, but she did not want it to go further, that was five years ago. The monks must have taken you when you were born and erased all memory of the pregnancy then when they needed you they used some illusionary magic to make you appear older and shoved your memory into the world."

He growled, "It is good that the monks are dead or I would have killed them myself. They had to have known they would need an innocent, a child, to push this Glory's magic into. When she as cast to Earth, if that's even true, the monks must have been tasked to contain her siphoned off magic. Whatever they stored it in would have started to leak, so they had to put it someplace safe, you."

Dawn looked at the man in awe not knowing what to say.

The man sat on the ground and set her on his lap. He brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her forehead. "I didn't know you existed but I do now and you're mine, all mine, my precious little girl. Glory's magic has been purged from you and now your own magic is returning. I will teach you to use it."

The man clutched Dawn as if she would float away at any second, "I am Loki, prince of Asgard and you are now Lykill, princess of Asgard."

Loki held her close to him, she could feel his heartbeat, and she remembered her mother holding her this way when she was upset. "Lykill? You're naming me Key?"

Loki smiled, "Your mother named you, Glory wasn't actually looking for a key she was looking for her powers, the monks manipulated the narrative to further hide you."

Dawn/Lykill tilted her head, "So you're the lock and I'm the key?"

Loki smiled, "You are the key to my heart, your mother would know that you would be. Now sleep, you are exhausted.

Dawn/Lykill's adrenalin crashed and between the lack of sleep before Glory's ceremony, her grief, and the extremes of magic, emotions, and physical exertion she passed out in her father's arms.

For the first time, Loki felt whole and allowed himself to truly open his heart.

EXTRA NOTE! Dawn was conceived just after Buffy was called. She was born and named and was only days old when the monks kidnapped her and warped reality.


	3. All for Her

When Dawn/Lykill woke she felt safe, truly safe. In all her memories, both real and fake, she'd never felt so safe.

It didn't take her long realize she looked different. She was smaller of course but also her hair was at least two shades darker than it had been. Her skin, on the other hand, was about two shades lighter with an odd tint, but the major change wasn't noticeable to her for a couple of days until she could look in a mirror.

Her eyes were a bit brighter blue but that wasn't the shocking thing. She had what looked like very fine scarification on her face. It was hard to see, most people would even notice it. There were two lines on each cheek, about two inches long, angled from her hairline towards her mouth and two curved lines on her forehead that dipped into a double V shape in line with her nose.

She asked her father about them but he told her that he would tell her when she was older.

Over the next few years Loki and Lykill traveled the universe. They hopped from world to world, staying only a few months in any one place, though Lykill didn't know it the reason was that Loki didn't want them to be found. They both learned many new things; magics, sciences, and even how to make new foods, Loki seemed to be where Lykill had gotten her odd food tastes.

They were happy, just the two of them. Lykill still missed her Earth family and friends but because of reverting to her actual age, and then growing up around the universe, her memories of them faded eventually to shadows, all except her mother, Buffy, and Spike.

Loki taught his daughter everything he could about magic. Lykill soaked it up like a sponge, excelling at her studies just as he had done. They discovered early on that together their magic could meld together making them terrifying to many of the peoples they visited. On many worlds they were considered gods, and usually gods of mischief, tricks, and magic.

Once, when Lykill was thirteen, on a world where winter wasn't a few months but a few years, Lykill learned that what most would call cold she felt as a slight chill. That's when Loki told her of his origins. She had cried for his pain, loss, and the betrayal of his "father." She vowed she'd make her "grandfather" pay if they ever met face to face.

It was on that world that she was gifted by some of the inhabitants a sword, Mischief. It was black steel that shimmered, the hilt and pommel were plain but the guard had a large ice blue stone in the center with two green gems on either side. It was her most prized possession and she kept it hidden in her own pocket dimension.

Neither of them actually knew it their travels were out of sync with time, they learned this after being captured by underlings of the Mad Titan Thanos.

While it had been eleven years for them it had only been 2 years on Earth.

Thanos had planned to use Loki's thirst for revenge and madness to help him get the space stone but Lykill's jump had skewed reality, causing a ripple effect. Thanos could see what SHOULD have happened but had not. Now he needed another way to get the Frost Giant of Asgard to help.

Holding Lykill hostage had seemed like the best way to ensure Loki's cooperation so he made a deal; open a portal using the Tesseract and give it to him and Thanos would not only return his child but also allow him revenge on Earth. He knew that while Loki didn't have the same need for vengeance on his brother as he once did but he also knew Loki DID still have a thirst for revenge for what had happened to his daughter.

Thanos gave him the scepter holding the mind stone and told him if he failed Lykill's life was forfeit.

Loki had no choice; he had to protect his daughter.

Ruling Earth and causing pain to his dear brother and "father" was a decided bonus.

He was concerned when Thor had taken him from the SHIELD agents but his precious girl and saved herself, and him. She had fought Thanos' minions and won, they had had no idea just how resourceful and devious she was.

When she gripped Mischief, threatening Thor himself, Loki felt for the first time in his life that someone loved him first, above all.

He'd never been happier in all his life.


	4. Here We Go!

Once the stones were sent back through the portal, with a pair of smirks, Loki and Lykill created a portal to Sunnydale. By using their combined magic it would be very difficult to locate them.

Loki wanted to end Thanos, to punish those who had dared harm his daughter, but he knew Thanos' power and while he had no qualms about dying, he wouldn't risk leaving her alone. Nothing was worth hurting her.

He would let the heroes like his dimwitted brother take care of that.

They landed at the sight of the portal that had started this journey. It was now a park filled with trees and a few benches. Lykill was glad that something beautiful had been made of it. Loki, having seen what the area looked like through a projection his daughter had made, felt more at ease knowing that the place of her nightmares was gone.

The sun was setting and the park was filled with birds twittering away. They both gazed around at the natural beauty. They hadn't been to a place so peacefully beautiful in over a year.

That was until a raven flew by cawing and Loki's face darkened. He half expected his "father" to appear before them. He was torn from his thoughts though when a vampire burst through the bushes and charged at them.

Lykill decapitated it with a flick of her wrist, cause a postal to teleport the creature's head from its body. "Good ole Sunnyhell!"

Loki smirked at her and shook his head, the girl would be the death of him.

As the exited the park they noticed the name of it, "The Dawn Summers Memorial Park."

Lykill smiled sadly knowing she had been missed, that Giles had been wrong, her sister and her friends didn't forget her.

The thought of Giles and what he had done stopped her in her tracks. He would pay, he would pay handsomely for what he'd done and what he'd tried to do. There would be no mercy for him.

She shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts, she'd deal with him soon enough.

She let her father to her sister's house, her house. It looked pretty much the same. The only differences were a young oak tree planted in the front yard, and obviously new roof and front door. She nearly vibrated with excitement, she'd missed Buffy and Spike so much. She missed the others as well but since it had been so long for her since she'd been here the feeling wasn't half as strong as she'd expected it to be.

Unfortunately no one was home.

Lykill frowned. "Well I guess they are probably at the Magic Box, the magic store Giles and Anya own. It's not far but maybe we should change our clothes, pretty sure we're gonna stand out."

Loki agreed. He was wearing his Asgardian armor and she was wearing a more feminine version of the same. She was even wearing a similar crown, though the horns on her's were smaller and it, like the accents on her clothing, was silver instead of gold.

As they walked his outfit changed to black slacks, black leather shoes, and a black dress shirt. Her outfit became deep blue jeans, black chucks, and a green crop top that said "Lil Mischief" in sparkly gold.

Loki smiled and rolled his eyes at her antics.

Fifteen minutes later they stood in front of The Magic Box.

It looked the exact same. No new anything, it actually looked like it needed a paint job badly. For an instant she was worried that it was abandoned, but the "OPEN" sign was facing her.

Then Lykill sensed Buffy inside. She was nervous but felt a compulsion to let her sister know she was alive. She only hoped that her sister still loved her.

She took a deep breath and squeezed her father's hand and they entered the store.


	5. Uh oh

Uh oh!

The first thing Loki noticed when entering the shop was that, while the building itself radiated power, the majority of the objects for sale were either fake or useless.

The first thing Lykill noticed was her sister.

Buffy was standing, arguing with Spike over how to best slay some demon. Neither of them looked up until Anya's welcome greeting stopped midway and she started screaming "Oh my god!"

Loki smirked, "Why yes, yes I am, thank you."

Lykill nudged him in the ribs and giggled.

Buffy looked up first, her eyes sliding from Loki to Lykill, "Dawn? Dawnie?"

Lykill smiled, "Yes and no, it's complicated."

Buffy ran toward her sister and they hugged each other tightly, tears pouring from them both.

When they pulled apart both sisters had watery smiles. Buffy gripped her sister's face gently. "What happened to you? We tried everything to find you! Even Angel helped! Nothing we did worked."

Loki cleared his throat and Buffy turned on him. "Who are you and why is my sister with you"

Lykill quickly stepped between them. "Buffy stop, please. He's my father."

Buffy glared at Loki both pissed off and confused. "No, dad is in Spain with his latest skank."

Lykill shook her head gripped her sister's shoulder, "Hank is your father Buffy, not mine."

Loki kept his mouth shut for once, basking in his child protecting him.

Spike finally spoke, "She telling the truth, I never could figure out why she smelled so different from you Slayer. I could smell your mother on both of you but Dawnie always had a different tinge to her. I thought it was because of the…well something else but now I know why. She smells like him."

His eyes became soft, "Missed you Nibblet."

Lykill reached out and grasped his hand. "I've missed you too Spike."

Buffy shook her head. "She could smell like him because she's been with him! He could have hypnotized or something!"

Spike shook his head, "Slayer I know how to tell smells apart, vampire remember? He is her father and I doubt she's hypnotized if she was why would he bring her here?"

Just then Giles walked in from the back, having heard the commotion. He took off his glasses and began to clean them muttering "Oh dear."

Loki's eyes flared red for an instant. "YOU! You are the one who planned to kill my child! You may have deceived these children but I know all of what you have done!"

Lykill looked at the Watcher with distaste. "It's very interesting the things you learn traveling the universe. There are so many secrets hidden and yet so many that are blatantly obvious as well."

Buffy looked both angry and confused, "Who is Lie Killer and what do you mean to 'keep me under his control'?"

Lykill smiled at her sister's ability to butcher words she'd never heard before. "It's Lykill and that's me, my real name. I'll explain all about that later, for now, we will deal with the betrayer."

She used magic to draw Giles to her and gripped his throat. "You are less than scum. The prophecy said "when the blood stops" and you knew damn well a bandage would have stopped it and the portal would have closed. You knew it didn't mean death. You just wanted me out of the way."

Giles gulped. "I wasn't sure! I assumed when you died all memory of you would vanish as well! You are a construct, a tool! You aren't human!"

Lykill tossed the man to her father. "Hold onto him for me Father, I have plans for him."

Xander was shocked, "Dawnie that can't be right, he helped finance the park! Well you wouldn't know about the park but we got the city to turn the area where all the badness happened into a park! Giles helped finance it!"

Loki smirked, looking every bit like a Big Bad. "All the easier to keep his 'children" in line."

Lykill nodded and Loki tied the Watcher to a chair and gagged him with magic.

She looked at Xander who was still sputtering over being called a child, "He has done so much you don't know about. After I jumped into the portal I found my father, well really I fell onto him, but anyway over the past few years I've learned a lot about a lot. I will tell you all about it but first…can we get pizza? I haven't had a good pizza in years!"

Everyone laughed and Xander ordered pizza, two with anchovies since apparently Dawn…Lykill got her weird tastes from her father.


End file.
